Kleiza, in my opinion, is an upgrade over Anderson. Period.
AA is a great story, and solid role player; but if he is our Best Substitute, and thus our 6th man, and is shooting 31% from 3, and has barely registered a stat besides points in the last two games, it leads to me think that just because it may not be broken, doesn't mean it can't use a little grease.

That's the gamble you take then. I'm just not sold on Linas period. Injuries aside, he too has been a disappointment since coming to Toronto. He's not the same player then when he plays for Lithuanian. Like I said on Twitter this morning, it has to be a confidence thing. When he knows he's the best on his team (ala national team) he plays like the best. Here in the Toronto, its a different story. Frustrating that he can't be more consistent.

Kleiza, in my opinion, is an upgrade over Anderson. Period.
AA is a great story, and solid role player; but if he is our Best Substitute, and thus our 6th man, and is shooting 31% from 3, and has barely registered a stat besides points in the last two games, it leads to me think that just because it may not be broken, doesn't mean it can't use a little grease.

Agreed you always have to improve what you can even if it's a strength. IMO the wing position is definitely broken outside of Demar.

Jose and Amir would be much better 6th men then AA and Ross to me has to be the first wing off the bench.

Kleiza, in my opinion, is an upgrade over Anderson. Period.
AA is a great story, and solid role player; but if he is our Best Substitute, and thus our 6th man, and is shooting 31% from 3, and has barely registered a stat besides points in the last two games, it leads to me think that just because it may not be broken, doesn't mean it can't use a little grease.

Exactly what i was going to say! I swear Joey, you and me were probably brothers in a past life, hehehe

I give AA props for coming in and providing scoring but if the Raptors plan to kick it with the best in the Eastern conference then no way should AA be playing more than 5 mins on a regular game, unless its a blowout, let alone being the 6th man. I'd definitely take Kleiza over him just for the sake of the argument of this thread, but none is actually deserving to play heavy minutes on any NBA team.

BC needs to clean house on that SF position and do whatever he can to give that spot a lift.

Exactly what i was going to say! I swear Joey, you and me were probably brothers in a past life, hehehe

I give AA props for coming in and providing scoring but if the Raptors plan to kick it with the best in the Eastern conference then no way should AA be playing more than 5 mins on a regular game, unless its a blowout, let alone being the 6th man. I'd definitely take Kleiza over him just for the sake of the argument of this thread, but none is actually deserving to play heavy minutes on any NBA team.

BC needs to clean house on that SF position and do whatever he can to give that spot a lift.

Ain't no one taking Fields or Kleiza's contract now. Might as well get used to what we got for a while!

Need to kleizerbeam our opponents!

Yes, Raptors need Kleiza badly and they need him to play a lot of good minutes. Now a few points on that:

-I would make him play the same as Ginobili does for SA or Harden did for OKC before the trade. This means coming off the bench to play starter minutes and also finish the game.

-I would start Anderson at the 3 for the first 5-8 minutes, then bring in Kleiza for the rest of the first half. Do the same in the second half.

Reasons: You want to start Anderson for his defense, make him play real aggressive D during those short stretches. With Bargnani and DeRozan already in the lineup we need an above average defender at the 3 to start the games and set a defensive tone (We know from last year Raptors struggle on D in the first quarter and it continued this season so far). Once the tone is set (or not), Kleiza comes in to provide another (better quality) source for offense. Once the rest of the bench comes on, he becomes basically the primary offensive weapon with his post up game and some mid-range and 3-point action. With starters back in, he gets back to playing within the flow of the game as offense runs more through Lowry, Bargnani and JV.

Kleiza is good only sometimes when you play him limited minutes. On the other hand, he is bad only sometimes when you play him 30+ minutes. He needs to be in the flow and he can often play rather mediocre to poorly for 15-20 minutes and score 4 points on 7 shots, but then he breaks out for 15 points over the next 10 minutes.

Kleiza is not the consistent guy like Luol Deng (who plays every minute at the same rate of success), but he can do just the same damage if given the same opportunity. He has proven it every summer with his national team, he has proven it with the season in euroleague playing for Olympiacos and more importantly he has proven in the NBA. When he played for Denver Nuggets (I think season of 2008), Melo was out of the lineup for a stretch that lasted over a month due partially to injury and partially due to him being suspended from games by the NBA. In that one month stretch as a starter Kleiza averaged 20ppg and 7rpg playing just over 35 minutes a game.

Now, I'm not saying he will average those numbers if he plays 30+ minutes, but I say he's the best we got at the 3 and him coming to Toronto was supposed to be his first opportunity to prove himself as a worthy starter in the NBA. But his time in Toronto so far has been defined by him being injured right from the start of the first season, coming back slowly in the second. This is the year all of it might come together and I think we should give him a chance. Starter or not, he needs to get lots if minutes if we want to see what he can really bring to the table and honestly, it can't get worse than what we're getting from Fields or Anderson right now. Even last season Kleiza looked better than these two look right now.

I wish him and his family well. I hope all problems get resolved quickly and Kleiza can focus on ball again. We need to kleizerbeam some of our opponents to get to that .500 record and maybe make the playoffs...

BTW 1 of the reasons why Kleiza underperforms in Toronto year after year is because he gives his best for the national team. then he comes in quite tired, then couple of small injuries puts him out of the rythm. and you have shit player for the second half of the season.

i understand how players want to play for national teams, but truthfuly if they were looking out for themselves - they should spend their summers improving where they need to, resting as much as they need to and training. i have no doubt that Kleiza would have had a way better NBA career if he didn't play for national team.

I'm hoping Fields fixes his hand for good. If he misses time, I see Anderson starting and Kleiza backing him up.

“The saving of our world from pending doom will come, not through the complacent adjustment of the conforming majority, but through the creative maladjustment of a nonconforming minority.” - Martin Luther King